Purple Sweet Potato Mochi

One of my favourite Asian desserts is mochi - glutinous rice cakes with a sweet filling. In particular, there is a Japanese company called Mochi Cream, who sells a wide variety (15+) of flavoured mochi. My favourite ones are peach/blueberry yoghurt, green tea and cherry blossom. A few years ago they went global and opened a branch in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. But unfortunately on my last trip to Hong Kong I found that it had closed, so I do not think I can have mochi cream again any time soon…

So I have decided to make my own, using the purple sweet potato puree recipe from my last post. Making the mochi dough is very straight forward, but shaping is not. You have to seal the opening while the dough is still warm, so the sides stick together without leaving a line. The ones I made tasted good but they were certainly not as pretty and neat as those by Mochi Cream. More practise is needed!

Purple sweet potato mochi

Makes 10

220g Glutinous Rice Flour

15g Glutinous Rice Flour (for dusting)

110g Caster Sugar

200ml Full Fat Milk

150g Purple Sweet Potato Puree

1 tsp Icing sugar

1 tsp Vegetable Oil

Combine 220g glutinous rice flour and the sugar, and then gradually add the milk. Mix until the batter is smooth. Oil a plate with vegetable oil, and then evenly spread the batter on it. Steam the mixture on a medium heat for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, divide the potato puree into 10 portions. Cook 15g glutinous flour in a microwave on full power for 50 seconds. When the dough is nearly done, dust your hands and work surface with the cooked flour.

Leave the dough to cool for a couple of minutes so you can handle it with your hands. Use a circular cookie cutter (I use 68mm diameter) to cut the dough, and then gently pull the side of the skin outwards so it is thicker in the middle.

Place a portion of the puree in the middle of the skin, fold it in half without squashing the puree. Repeat on the other side. Seal the opening by grabbing the four corners together, then twist and cut off the end. The closing should face downwards. Dust the mochi with icing sugar to finish.